Earlier this year, the renowned antiquarian bookshop Schuhmacher, located on the Geldersekade in Amsterdam, closed its doors following the passing of its owner, Wilma Schuhmacher (1927–2025). For decades, her six-floor sanctuary housed nearly every first edition of 20th-century Dutch literature—a place where time seemed to stand still among 100,000 books.
By chance, I was given the opportunity to wander through the almost-empty rooms with my camera, after the books had been moved to their new home at the Embassy of the Free Mind Museum. Even emptied, the space still carried her presence. I could feel Wilma there—quiet, devoted, eternal among the echoes of her life’s work.
As an ode to Wilma Schuhmacher, the Embassy of the Free Mind Museum will open a remarkable exhibition on 5 May 2026, dedicated to clandestine printed matter from the collection of Antiquarian Schuhmacher, to which she devoted her life in defense of the freedom of the written word. Alongside these works, my new photo series will be on display. These images are my attempt to capture that delicate, enduring spirit of Wilma Schuhmacher.
5 May – 28 June 2026 
Embassy of the Free Mind Museum
Keizersgracht 123, Amsterdam 
www.embassyofthefreemind.com